*I posted this onWE'RE NOT THAT STUPID but it is so outrageous and funny I had to post it here, too!!!
Holy Christ All the Mighty, this broad is a spectacular TWIT. After returning to Alaska after the election, Palin made her obligatory stop to the office to briefed on the alarming state of her kingdom since her absence. She then promptly whisked off to warmer climes to hold court poolside over the genuflecting media. She couldn't be bothered to honor our veterans on Veteran's Day. She was MIA for our Education Summit. But she DOES see the value and importance of spending her time pardoning Tom the Turkey at the Triple D Turkey Farm in Wasilla.
Pardoning a fuckin' turkey.
BEHOLD!!! Here's the Queen Palin being interviewed after the pardoning, gabbling like a turkey herself with her hackneyed platitudes-while turkeys are being slaughtered in the background! When asked if that background was alright for the videoing, Palin, who professed during the pardoning to be "Friend to all creatures great and small…” replied,"No worries!" ...What must those poor wolf pups in Heaven be thinking....
I don't think that's coffee in her environmentally unfriendly cup. That's a triple hot toddy, there, fer shur. You BETCHA!
Check out Joe the Slaughterer back there! Hysterical!
WARNING: Video is a bit grizzly
Is it just the quality of the video, or has the skin on The Queen's face fallen? Hint to The Queen: Drag makeup doesn't hide that shit!!! Ever see the end of Death Becomes Her?!?!?
OOO! This makes twice this week! I'm slowly racking up my 15 minutes of "fame"..~ SNORT! Huz and I and our 2 friends are sitting there about 1:25 minutes in. Would ya look at that sweet baby! Enjoying the comedy at the Bear Tooth Theater. I LOVE you People!!!
Well. Doggone it, that Sarah Palin did surprise in the Vice Presidential Debate Question/Answer Session last night. (Anyone else feel that Iffil totally softballed? What about holding the feet to fire?) Despite the snarky demeaning behavior , the spokes-womanly regurgitation of Cliffs Notes populist talking points, despite the vacuous platitudes, and the Buzz Words ad nauseum-(MAVERICK, My Energy Rich Alaska!, 'merica, main street), she done good. Which doesn’t say much when our expectations were not at all high in the first place! Where else did she have to go but up? The spinners and weavers and “electrified” base are rallying hard for ya now, Sarah! There are many proclaiming that she won the debate! “I’m gonna puke, really.” And “eeeewww!!!” were my first gut responses to much of what she said last night. My Beartooth pizza quickly turned to acid in my stomach but sipping my IPA every time I heard a Palin buzz-word didn’t quench the ire. There was comfort in sitting in this theater pub with the Huz, our friends, M&M and their baby E, and so many diverse yet like-minded folk. ‘Twas a good time, actually. As we stood in line waiting to get into the theater, I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty about my ,”WEEEEEEEE!!!! We’re going to a hangin’!!! BURN her!!!!” attitude. The pity didn’t last long though. I felt hoodwinked as I soon realized there would be no breakdown, no crash and burn, as my Dark Side had desired. She came across as quite well studied and rehearsed, she opportunistically jumped to the McCain Camp’s script whenever possible, allowing her an air of confidence . She cravenly stuck to the topics that she was obviously most comfortable with and was brazen in her assertion of disregarding questions in favor of pontificating on something off topic, but of her own safe and secure realm. “And I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record also.”
Screw rules and diplomacy! Hey, Bush got away with it, the stubborn ass! And that is frightening. When faced with a question she couldn’t answer, she turned the spotlight on herself-the Outsider, the Maverick, Miss Middle America with those asinine “folksy” quips:
“In the middle class of America which is where Taaaadd-n- I have been all of our lives…” “Oh man, it is so obvious I am a Washington outsider and not used to the way you guys operate.", “I want to talk about, again, my record on energy...”, “I've had that track record of reform. And I've joined this team that is a team of mavericks..”, “You know what I had to do in the state of Alaska? I had to take on those oil companies….”, “what I had to do up there in Alaska was…”, “I think we need a little bit of reality from Wasilla Main Street there, brought to Washington, DC.”. EEEEEEEEEcccccchhhhhhh! It was like someone was putting worms down the back of my shirt.
And how about SUBSTANCE? Aptitude? Experience? Humility? My 13 year old has more humility than Sarah Palin. A couple weeks ago, for one of her electives at school she interviewed for a job position. I discussed how most employers(from MCDonalds to Haliburton) will ask prospective employees, in one form or another, that very basic question, “ What is your greatest weakness?”.
“And Dea” I said, ”Everyone has one.”
“So I just tell the truth and talk about how I’m going to improve on it, right?”
Riiiiiiight.
Does Sarah Palin even know what an “Achilles Heel” is?!?!? She didn’t bother to answer that archetypal question . She just blathered on and on about her vast executive experience and how it would benefit the sparky team-o-Mavericks! She worked her Sarah magic with the winks, the snarks, the slick sidestepping, the contrived performance, the usual canned rhetoric that we’ve all heard before-But I’m not buyin’ it, Babe. And I expect the rest of the thinking, grounded in reality, fact seeking public to not buy it either. We’re not that stupid. It’s too bad that the girl next door who has experienced the same struggles as the rest of us, who knows first hand what it’s like to struggle with Health insurance , college tuition, special needs children… really has no intention of supporting those things http://www.afscmeblog.org/.
And I wanted to smack that perma-grin off her face when she dissed my man, Biden. "I do respect your years in the Senate but I do think Americans are craving something new and something different." New and different. MCCAIN?!!! Insulting. To you, me, and the Barak Obama campaign.
You can call me DISGUSTED, Winky. May I call you “Winky”?
*A couple of my favorite Biden moments. Besides that fabulous ear to ear grin in response to Palin’s absurdity: “Look, the maverick -- let's talk about the maverick John McCain is. And, again, I love him. He's been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people's lives. He voted four out of five times for George Bush's budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he's got there. He has not been a maverick in providing health care for people. He has voted against -- he voted including another 3.6 million children in coverage of the existing health care plan, when he voted in the United States Senate. He's not been a maverick when it comes to education. He has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college. He's not been a maverick on the war. He's not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table. Can we send -- can we get Mom's MRI? Can we send Mary back to school next semester? We can't -- we can't make it. How are we going to heat the -- heat the house this winter? He voted against even providing for what they call LIHEAP, for assistance to people, with oil prices going through the roof in the winter. So maverick he is not on the important, critical issues that affect people at that kitchen table.” And,
"Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous VP we have had in history."
1. FANNIE MAE/FREDDIE MAC: Palin said “it was John McCain who pushed so hard with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reform measures,” but fact checkers say that’s “Quite A Stretch” And “Barely True,” and that McCain was a “latecomer” to the discussion.
2. FUNDAMENTALS ARE STRONG: Palin tried to say “John McCain saying our economy was strong” but McCain has used the phrase “The Fundamentals Of The Economy Are Strong” At Least 16 Times This Year.
3. PARTISAN POLITICS: Palin said McCain is “known for putting partisan politics aside to just get the job done,” but he has voted with Bush 90% of the time in the Senate and bragged about his support for Bush on important issues.
4. TAXES ATTACK: Palin repeated the attack that Obama voted for higher taxes 94 times, which the New York Times says is “false,” CNN says is “Misleading,” and FactCheck.org says is “inflated.”
5. TOBACCO REGULATION: Palin said to “look at the tobacco industry” as an example of McCain pushing for even harder and tougher regulations. But McCain opposed expanding the SCHIP children’s health insurance program for 5.8 million children because it would increase tobacco taxes.
6. SPENDING INCREASES: Palin said Obama is is proposing “nearly a trillion dollars in new spending,” but didn’t mention that he has also proposed cuts to balance it out, an attack CNN has already debunked as “misleading” and that ignores the far larger cost of McCain’s tax cuts and spending hikes.
7. HEALTH CARE: Palin claimed Obama’s health plan is “government run” which has been widely debunked as a “canard.”
8. HEALTH CARE. Palin says taxes wouldn’t go up under the McCain health care plan, a fact even his own campaign has acknowledged isn’t true.
9. TROOPS: Palin repeated what the AP called the “highly misleading” attack that Obama opposed funding for the troops, and Factcheck.org notes that the same methodology would lead to the same conclusion for McCain.
10. GLOBAL WARMING: Palin said “I don’t want to argue about the causes” for global warming, when she has clearly taken the position that she doesn’t not believe it is man-made.
11. MCCAIN IS CONSISTENT: Palin said McCain” doesn't tell one thing to one group and then turns around and tells something else to another group,” when that is exactly what he has done on immigration, telling Hispanic leaders he was for comprehensive reform instead of the enforcement focused approach he has taken with conservatives.
12. MCCLELLAN NOT MCKIERNAN: Palin referred to the US commander in Afghanistan, David McKiernan as “McClellan.”
13. MCKIERNAN ON “SURGE:” Palin said that [McKiernan] did not say a surge wouldn’t work in Afghanistan, when just yesterday he said “The word I don’t use for Afghanistan is ’surge,’ ” McKiernan stressed, saying that what is required is a “sustained commitment” to a counterinsurgency effort that could last many years and would ultimately require a political, not military, solution
14. KILLING CIVILIANS. Palin said “Obama had said that all we're doing in Afghanistan is air raiding villages and killing civilians and such a reckless, reckless comment and untrue comment again hurts our cause. That's not what we are doing there.” Unfortunately, the Associated Press says that Obama was right in discussing a critically important point about avoiding civilian casualties.
15. TEACHING: Palin said we need to make sure “that education in either one of our agendas, I think, absolute top of the line,” when McCain has repeatedly favored tax cuts for the wealthy over funds for more teachers and class size reduction.
16. PARTISAN APPOINTMENTS: Palin said “You do what I did as governor. And you appoint people regardless of party affiliation. Democrats, independents, Republicans, you walk the walk, don't just talk the talk” when she repeatedly appointed friends and supporters to positions for which they weren’t qualified.
17. FOCUS ON CLIMATE CHANGE: Palin falsely claimed that she was the first governor to form a climate change subcabinet, when at least 28 states had already taken action.
And this one is close to RunninL8's heart:
18. DARFUR DIVESTMENT: Palin claimed that “when I and others” found out that the state had money invested in Sudan that “we called for divestment,” when the reality is that Palin’s appointees worked to kill a Darfur divestment plan.
I posted my pics and a brief blurb of today's delivery of the petition demanding Attorney General Talis Colberg's resignation over on WE'RE NOT THAT STUPID (I changed it from MEET SARAH. After all, things will be different after the election!)
What a FABULOUS turnout!!!! Both the rally and the dynamic speakers were high energy, inspiring, heartwarming,....what an amazing group of people. I am so PROUD to be apart of this community and this state!
Thanks to Alaskans for Truth, our prolific Alaskan bloggers, uplifting speakers, and determined rally-goers!
"There is a new group that has formed: Alaska Women Against Palin. We will be holding a Rally this Saturday. Probably noon at Loussac Library, but we need to get a permit so that hasn't been established yet (we met for the first time yesterday). The objective of the rally is to get lots of press so that it goes national. We want the country to know that we are Alaska women who don't believe that Palin's voice represents us and we are insulted by the blatant pandering that has come with her selection. I'll send you the flyer once all the info is established. WE'll have a sign making party just before. Tell your friends... Ellen"
YAWWWWWWNNNN….. Same old same old. A Bush-crafted speech. Geared toward the 5th grade mentality. The usual Rep. talking points…her old speeches regurgitated…..with much base nastiness thrown in. Oh, and lies & omissions & half truths. About as authentic as an Hermes handbag made by a sweatshop kid in China. What a great cross section of the US. ~Snort!!!~ A jack in the box audience of Caucasian bourgeois and blue hairs. The most glaring thing(besides the ALIEN hairdo and Chola make-up) was that that speech was absolutely devoid of any substance. Hello!! POLICY?
Of course, the Hollywood Media loooooved her.
Some of the fiction:
1. " I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America."
~So utterly irresponsible and self-absorbed…
2. "To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters.I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House. " ~No, you WON'T. Palin actually slashed funding for schools for special needs kids by 62%. Pre-Sara, Post Sara She also OPPOSED CRUCIAL HEALTH CARE AND SENIORS FUNDING
3. " I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public education better."
~However brief
4. "Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown." ~ Randi Rhodes(political talk radio) stated yesterday on her show that being chief executive officer of the KISS army is more difficult them being mayor of a town of 5ooo.
5. "As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man."
~McSame remains the same?!
For an extensive list of McSames flip-flopping on the following issues: National Security Policy, Foreign Policy, Military Policy, Domestic Policy, Economic Policy, Energy Policy, Immigration Policy, etc., etc.... go HERE.
6. "I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks," for that Bridge to Nowhere."
~The deal was already chain stoking when she came in to place the pillow over it’s face- a politically viable project no more. The money was still there but the language specifying where the money was to go had been removed by congress. The ball was already rolling for funding other transportation projects when Palin came on to turn her back on the BTN after the public out lash.
7. "Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already."
~Sara, did you forget? And I quote you: “I beg to disagree with any candidate who would say we can’t drill our way out of our problem or that more supply won’t ultimately affect prices. Of course it will affect prices. Energy being a global market, it’s impossible to venture a guess on (specific) prices.”
8. "But listening to him(Obama) speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate."
* Ethics Reform: Obama was the Senate's point person on ethics reform, and sponsored or co-sponsored the bills that made up what the Washington Post called "the strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet." I'm also a fan of this bill, which I think of as the Journalists, Bloggers, and Citizens' Muckraking Empowerment Act: it creates a searchable database of recipients of federal grants and contracts. * The Lugar-Obama initiative to strengthen the Nunn-Luger framework for securing loose nukes, and to extend it to securing and destroying stockpiles of conventional arms. (For instance, shoulder-fired missiles that could be used against passenger airlines, fired at our forces, or used to make any number of ongoing conflicts more deadly.) * Various bills concerning the response to Hurricane Katrina, including an amendment putting strict limits on the use of no-bid contracts after disasters, requiring planning for the evacuation of people with special needs and senior citizens, creating a National Emergency Family Locator System, etc.
9. "America needs more energy ... our opponent is against producing it."
· ~Obama plans to · Provide short-term relief to American families facing pain at the pump · Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future. · Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined. · Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars -- cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon -- on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America. · Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025. · Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. New Energy
Where was McSame when congress was voting in bill S.3335?!?!?
10. "Victory in Iraq is finally in sight ... "
~What.The.Eff.Is.She.Talking.About?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
11. “The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes ... raise payroll taxes ... raise investment income taxes ... raise the death tax ... raise business taxes ... and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars. My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station that's now opened for business - like millions of others who run small businesses.”
~ That would be raised taxes for only 2% of American households. The majority of Americans will feel some relief. And how is it that folks making $250,000 a year are considered “middle class’? The median income level in New Canaan Connecticut ( considered the richest town in America)is is $231,138.
I'll try to refine and add more later...
UPDATE: Wiping the filth off my chin after listening to McPain's ego-fest. Mr. McMeMeMeMe
2. Wanna wee education on Saracuda? The following is a letter by Anne Kilkenny of Wasilla, Alaska that's making the e-mail and blog circuit. It was rumored that she was merely an urban myth, but apparently she's the real deal. Her letter just about says it all for me now(feel free to pass it on and include her name and address):
*
ABOUT SARAH PALIN I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992.Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on afirst name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe".It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months.She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby.There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym. She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.She's smart.Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000(at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation(1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased aregressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing. While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplusin Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state. In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs. She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day. Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran forMayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people,creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their powerto further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated”her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’tlike the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness. Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her. When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah gotthe best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this greatjob which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party)engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit,exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to. As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance--but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as “anti-pork”.She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum. Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked toglobal warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar bears as threatened species.McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President. There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she. However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and a reregretting it.
CLAIM VS FACT•“Hockey mom”: true for a few years
•“PTA mom”: true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since
•“NRA supporter”: absolutely true
•social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships(said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
•pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.
•“Pro-life”: mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation
•“Experienced”: Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska.No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.
•political maverick: not at all
•gutsy: absolutely!
•open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.
•has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
•”a Greenie”: no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
•fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
•pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.
•pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents
•pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla’s history.
•pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.
WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny +Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that’s life. Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship. Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase inspending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor)from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City ofWasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjustfor inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossiblefor a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they areswamped. So I can't verify my numbers.You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for thepopulation of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. Theday Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that thecurrent population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s.
Regarding the Bristol Palin pregnancy rumor, for your entertainment (Gleaned from GAWKER):
When rumors surfaced Friday that John McCain's pretty new totally un-vettedrunning mate Sarah Palin's eldest daughter Bristol was the real mother of her Down Syndrome-afflicted infant son Trig, and that she had merely pretended — not very effectively at first! — to be pregnant with the child to cover up Bristol's terrible scarlet shame, our first thought was 1. Yeah right ha ha now get me another Black N Tan followed closely by 2. But what a rich premise for a quirky premium cable comedy on the unending travails of/unachievable demands placed on the corruption-fighting Christian mom governor from Alaska!* But someone else with better Photoshop skills thought up that same joke. Which made us realize, is the basis of this scurrilous rumor nothing but an obvious pun? As it turns out, "um probably yes"! Because we just heard from Josh Moffet, a 19-year-old Seward, Alaska resident a tipster alerted us had been involved in a car accident with Bristol when she "would" have been seven months pregnant with baby Trig. We already know her mother was not showing much bump action around that time. But was Bristol? Via MySpace mail of course: "Hi Maureen, Honestly I was a little distracted with her safety rather than her stomach. I don't recall her being pregnant at all, she may have been wearing a coat. No one else at the scene of the accident mentioned the word pregnant so I would say that either no one noticed or she wasn't pregnant. I do find it odd, I don't support McCain, but I don't see what this has to do with him. The public should realize how bad of a politician he is, and not try to dig up dirt on everyone that he associates with. Don't you think that it's probably hard enough having a mentally challenged child (regardless who it might have come out of) to take care of."
I think I re-injured my neck doing a double take when Huz came downstairs and told me the news.
PALIN?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?
Christ. They don't call her Saracuda for nothin'.
She's a grudge holder currently snarled up in an ethics investigation, she poo-pooed this whole thing in the recent past saying she would not leave Alaska-there was so much she wanted to do for this state, she has little experience(just a B.A. in journalism)-zip in international affairs- and I know I'll be blasted for this, but the mommy in me says,"how are you going to have time for your new little baby? A baby with special needs." And that ole' dude has a good shot at keeling over in the White house-and then Sara Palin will be our Commander and Chief? NO. She doesn't have the experience to aid a president. I'm sure the guys out there think she'll make McSame an excellent nurse maid.
What an awkward and lame speech. That puts the whole situation in a nutshell. Playing the Hillary card to attract the Clinton die-hards with bringing the women's equality movement to the forefront, despite the fact that her own views are antithetical to theirs. Am I totally naive? I'm hearing Hillary Diehards are willing to give up their democratic values JUST to have a 2 x chromosomes in office? I just can not accept that. This is a THREAT to the women's progressive movement.
Will this hurt the Obama campaign? I have faith in the Thinking People. But there are a LOT who are NOT thinking. McSame, you fool. The pooch has been screwed. You just jumped the shark, my friend.
She'll be SPANKED by Joe at the first vice pres debate.
More after my head stops spinning. Maybe.
The fantastic and lovley CELTIC DEVA has written much on Sara Palin-for more info go here!
The results of yesterday’s 2008 Primary Electionare basically in. Not officially...but pretty much.
Hey great! Predator control-It’s still ok to shoot wolves and grizzlies from the air or by "land and shoot" even if there is inadequate data to prove the necessity for it. It’s ok to hand over these animals on a silver platter to please the ever increasing numbers of hunters. It’s still ok to shoot wolf pups in their dens. How sporting. Never mind finding them homes within Alaskan zoos or conservation centers.
Clean water, schlean water. It’s ok with everyone to leave Bristol Bay’s commercial, sport, and subsistence fisheries- and many other Alaskan waters- wide open for the inevitable toxic chemical contamination from mining. So what if the indigenous people who have subsisted off of the salmon in Bristol Bay for 10,000 years loose one of their main food sources? Salmon are disappearing everywhere else but let’s not bother to protect the Bay that produces Alaska’s largest salmon run. Get ‘em while you can folks! Order them up fresh from New Sagayawhile they last.
It’s ok to keep our elections nice-n-dirty. Give those big money special interest groups all the power. Let’s not bother holding politicians accountable to their constituents. Let’ em continue to serve the Man. It's ok.
Even with the ongoing, humiliating, widespread investigation by The U.S. Department of Justice of Alaskan lawmakers' official actions in relation to the oil industry, fisheries, and private corrections industry, even though Senator Ted Stevens has been indicted for 7 corruption counts, EVEN with all that disgrace, Alaskans have voted him back in. It’s ok, Man, he gives us tons of pork!
And good ole’, friendly, older than dirt like Uncle Ted, Don Young who spent... billions now? of his campaign money on lawyers and won’t tell us why… BACK IN the running! And good on ya! to the 65.5ish % of voters who decided to sit this one out. Something better to do?
I'm off to work but just had to acknowledge that this is an amazing time in history. I’ve been so thrilled, uplifted and proud to have finally witnessed an election where both a woman and an African American ran hard and long for the Democratic Nomination for President. And while I’ve become so disappointed in Hillary Clinton's dirty tactics, I would still not have had a problem voting for her if she clinched the nomination. But I don’t believe she has and I’m overjoyed and filled with sanguinity at the idea of Barack Obama becoming our next president. For the first time in my voting life, I’ve felt like I haven’t been forced to vote for the lesser of two evils. And that is such an amazing and invigorating feeling. And yes, (to join in the redundancy) in this very frightening and unsteady time, I am imbued with HOPE for ours and our children’s futures.
